Sherlock's Name
by GizmoTrinket
Summary: The idea that Sherlock used his uncommon middle name to be more like Mycroft and the idea that Sherlock used the name Billy when he was younger combined in my brain. Then this happened.
1. Sherlock's Name

Mycroft was six when he learned he'd be getting a new sibling. His mother happily shared the news with him and his brother. Sherrinford shrugged and wandered off. Mycroft watched his father's expression fall and responded excitedly in response. He didn't feel excited, he felt dread. Mycroft knew this baby would be the last and the result of his mother's wish for a child that had some characteristic that he and his brother were missing.

His father pulled him aside later. "Thank you for acting excited for your mother." Mycroft shrugged so he continued, "I know you're worried so I'll make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Mycroft was old enough to know he was being bribed but he was also old enough to know that the baby would come no matter what so he could at least get something in return.

"If you agree to be a good big brother I'll let you name him." His father looked proud of himself for coming up with such an idea.

Mycroft snorted and agreed quickly. After all, Sherrinford often said there was no standard for being a good big brother, as goodness could not be measured. When his father smiled Mycroft wondered what he missed.

The next day Sherrinford tried to hide something bad in Mycroft's room and Mycroft listened to his father yell. He didn't know what the contraband was and was trying to figure it out. When Mycroft heard his father exclaim how horrible a big brother Sherrinford was Mycroft's stomach fell. There may be no way to measure good but that didn't mean there wasn't such a thing as a bad big brother.

* * *

Mycroft started school and the other children teased him about his name. He hadn't realized names had importance and meanings. Mycroft was considering not naming his new sibling as an out from the deal. But he'd heard his mother's list of potential names and they were all unusual. The teasing didn't bother him, he was used to Sherrinford teasing him and when he didn't react they said he was weird. It occurred to him as he observed the other children that they were more beast than person. Their teacher spent all her time teaching them about sharing and colours and other tedious things Mycroft already knew. He watched as one of them started crying because they didn't know the answer. Mycroft realized the other children were stupid. None of the others could be told something once and remember it. They also had no idea they were falling into a social hierarchy as they interacted with each other.

* * *

Halfway through the third day Mycroft was pulled out of class to speak with a doctor. Mycroft realized this doctor wasn't like the others that he visited for vaccines. He wasn't wearing a white coat and Mycroft wasn't ill. It made him uneasy and he approached cautiously.

After the boring introductions the doctor explained why he was there. "You don't have to worry, Mycroft."

Mycroft knew that meant he had to worry. No one ever said there was nothing to be scared of unless there was; he'd learned that after his first scary movie.

"Your teacher thinks you're special so she called me in to find out. If you are you get to leave that class and go somewhere more interesting."

* * *

"Did you make any friends today?" Mummy asked him when she picked him up at the end of class.

"No." Mycroft replied easily. He had no desire to do anything with the other children that would result in friendship. His mother drooped and Mycroft realized that's what she wanted from the new baby. She wanted them to be normal like those other children. It occurred to Mycroft that his mother might get her wish. After all, everyone thought Mycroft was extraordinary; even when compared to his brother. The doctor said he'd never seen anyone like Mycroft which meant he was used to seeing those other children. Mycroft suddenly felt a different sort of dread. He didn't want his sibling to be like them but his parents did. Mycroft had lied to the doctor and told him what he wanted to hear until they let him go back to class. What if his new sibling hadn't known to do that? What if his new sibling was special but too dumb to lie and was taken away? The thought scared Mycroft more than the movie did.

* * *

Father always said a man should never go back on his word if he wanted to be trusted. Mycroft didn't know what exactly went into being a good big brother. Clearly he couldn't Sherrinford as an example; he couldn't even use him as an example of what not to do because Sherrinford did many things Mycroft appreciated. Earlier that day Mycroft accidently broke Mummy's favourite vase. Sherrinford lied and said he did it. Later he told Mycroft that their parents were already mad at him. Mycroft thought it was stupid that Sherrinford didn't say Mycroft broke it on purpose to take some of the anger away from himself but Mycroft appreciated it nonetheless.

Since the baby had not been named yet Mycroft technically wouldn't go back on his word if he chose not to name them. But Sherrinford had protected him from Mummy's wrath and Mycroft was still terrified after his encounter with the psychologist. He'd done some reading on psychologists hoping that his fear was irrational and could be eased with facts. Like the fact that there was no such thing as a vampire. Unfortunately his research had the opposite effect. It confirmed Mycroft could have been taken away; indefinitely, if he'd met certain criteria.

* * *

Mycroft spent all his free time looking up baby names and their meanings. He needed something normal so if the baby was normal they wouldn't feel bad when they were teased. The name also needed to mean something good, so the baby wouldn't feel bad when they found out. Mycroft resented his name essentially meant small mouth.

He wasn't completely sold on the idea of being a good big brother, a survey of his classmates indicated it was far more trouble than worth, but the baby was moving inside their mother and Mycroft felt he was running out of time if he wanted the perfect name.

Later that night Mummy was talking about how she thought the baby was going to be a girl and that she had the perfect name for a girl: Sherlock. She added that even if the baby was a boy she'd still name him that because she liked it so much.

"No." Mycroft interjected with less horror than he felt.

"What's that dear?" Mummy asked as she turned to him.

"No. Father said if I agreed to be a good big brother I would be allowed to name the baby."

The statement caused an argument between his parents and Mycroft excused himself to look up girl's names. He didn't think the baby would be a girl but that was because he didn't realize it was a possibility. It was obvious; half the children in Mycroft's class were girls after all. Babies clearly came as girls just as often as boys. It was the first time Mycroft had ever felt stupid and he was determined to do something better than burst into tears.

* * *

After two months Mycroft still hadn't settled on a name and he was becoming frantic. His father took him aside when he noticed and said, "Don't worry so much. We'll tell the baby how much you worried over their name and they'll know how much you love them. Any name will pale in comparison to how much work you've put into this."

Mycroft hadn't realized the baby would know he had chosen their name. It was much easier to find a name once he had that piece of information but he was still torn between three options if they were a boy.

* * *

The baby was born and Mummy was arguing with Father about who would give the middle name. Father always gave them their middle names but Mummy couldn't bear the thought that no one would have the name Sherlock. Mycroft noticed that the baby had stopped breathing during their fight and ran to get a nurse.

The baby ended up in intensive care but wasn't expected to have any problems. "Good thing you were around to protect him." His father made a joke to calm Mycroft down. When Mycroft refused to smile or even take his eyes off the baby he continued, "I want to name him Scott," Mycroft made a face. "But I'm sure you've come up with something better."

Mycroft never laughed at his father's jokes. Mycroft didn't think his father was funny. Mycroft didn't think anyone was funny so it didn't bother his father. Mycroft usually smiled to show he knew it was a joke but he was busy running through different names and applying them to his brother before discarding them. None of them fit. He ran through all the other names he'd seen. Finally he found the perfect one.

"William." Mycroft answered his father's unspoken question. "And you could both give middle names."

"What does it mean?" His father asked.

"Will or desire and helm indicating protection." Mycroft explained.

"That's a good name."

Mycroft heard the tilt in his father's voice that meant he was missing something but he was too busy watching over his brother to worry about it. Whatever the problem was it wasn't with the name. Mycroft had done a lot of research on names. It was a good name.

* * *

A/N: Huge thank you to Jump dimension for beta-ing this bad boy. I swapped a couple words after so any mistakes are mine. This is going to be made into a ten story series. I'll load them as chapters here and a series on AO3.


	2. Thunder and Other Loud Noises

William stayed at the hospital until he learned how to breathe and not inhale his food into his lungs. Mycroft had asked the hospital staff and apparently it wasn't uncommon for children of older parents to have this problem; but William had come early, Mycroft figured William wouldn't have decided to be born before he was ready. He wondered if his brother was just stupid. Breathing and drinking shouldn't have to be learned. William took far too much time to learn to do them too. Five weeks he stayed at that hospital! Mycroft had taken to borrowing books out of the medical library to curb boredom; there was only so much time one could stare at a sleeping infant; no matter how much he cared for him. Mycroft took the books to school and read them there to avoid getting into fights.

Mycroft was taken out of class when William was brought home. He was glad, school was supposed to be a place of learning but all he was learning was that other children were stupid and overly emotional. Of course, he also learned that it wasn't acceptable to voice this fact. He learned many other social rules too so his time spent there wasn't a total waste. Fights in the school yard were not particularly enjoyable but Mycroft learned what to watch for and how to avoid them. With Mummy stuck at the hospital his father was called every time Mycroft got into trouble. The headmaster spoke to Father about homeschooling and Mycroft convinced him to sign the papers right there in the office. His classmates and teachers were as happy to see him go as he was to leave. School was an interesting idea but clearly wasn't for him. His father took the car from his school over to the hospital where they waited for Mummy and baby William to be released.

Mummy let Mycroft hold William all the way to the store where they bought a car seat. Then Mycroft was put in charge of monitoring his brother to make sure he kept breathing on the way home. Mycroft found having a baby at home was much more interesting than having a baby in the hospital. William was awake more and Mycroft was allowed to hold him as long as he was awake.

The baby had been home a week when the crying started. Well, crying was one word for it. It was really shrieking until William vomited or finally fell asleep. It never stopped. Mycroft never wanted to go to bed at his bed time but when he wanted to sleep he wanted to sleep for at least six hours before being woken. Sherrinford complained and fought with Mummy about it. He kept saying William was defective and they should return him. Sherrinford brought home adoption papers and left them on top of his report card. He said needed his sleep to get good marks and he couldn't get good marks if he was falling asleep during his classes. Mycroft knew his brother would have gotten poor marks even if he got twelve hours of sleep a night. Mycroft never saw Sherrinford do his homework and he knew he was cutting classes again. But, Father was constantly napping and Mummy tried to reason with Sherrinford but she was exhausted too. One night Sherrinford called to say he was staying at a friend's house until further notice. He wouldn't tell Father which friend, he just hung up. Dad had left to go bring him home so he wouldn't get into trouble and Mummy had held William while he screamed and cried. Mummy had taken William to the doctor after the third day and the doctor said William had colic. Mycroft looked up colic in his books (his parents returned the hospital's copies but bought Mycroft his own) and it was just a fancy word for "screaming a lot for no reason."

Mycroft stared at his little brother, trying to figure out what the doctor couldn't be bothered to. As their mother started to nod off despite the crying Mycroft took the infant from her arms. He hadn't quite mastered holding the infant and his head at the same time with one arm like his parents could so he had to nudge Mummy with his feet and elbows until she got up and went to bed. She tried to argue that Mycroft shouldn't have to stay up with the baby; that she needed to stay up until Sherrinford was found and that she needed to stay by the phone in case someone called. Mycroft cut down all her arguments with logic: Mycroft would be up while William was screaming whether she was up with the baby or not, that she couldn't do anything other than wait by the door and phone until Sherrinford decided to make contact and Mycroft could answer the phone if it rang. He promised to wake her up if anyone phoned or if Sherrinford came home and she fell asleep before she could bother to remove her shoes.

At two in the morning Sherlock finally nodded off and Mycroft got him settled in his cot. He regretted saying he would wait by the door and phone but he had promised. Mycroft fell asleep on the sofa despite his best efforts and was woken up by his father coming home to change before going to work. Mycroft could tell from Father's expression that he hadn't found Sherrinford. Even if Mycroft couldn't read the expression of failure his father slamming the door behind him and throwing his briefcase at the wall would have been more than enough to know. The commotion woke William and Mycroft hurried to his brother. Mycroft had never seen his father so angry before and he was scared. He tried to rock William in his arms thinking the motion would help. But William screamed harder. Mycroft had shut the door hoping that maybe he could quiet his brother before Mummy woke up but William was very loud. Mycroft tried burping him like he'd seen his parent's do but William didn't burp. Finally Mycroft panicked, he could hear his parents yelling. He was scared they'd take William back to the hospital and put him up for adoption or stick him in some institution for defective children. Mycroft set William on the nursery floor, grabbed a blanket, curled his body around his brother then threw the blanket over them both. Mycroft hid under the covers with Sherrinford whenever a bad thunderstorm scared him but Sherrinford wasn't there and thunder didn't scare Mycroft anymore. William sniffled before curling into his brother's chest and falling asleep.

Mycroft heard the nursery door fly open and the blanked was ripped from on top of them. He gripped his brother tighter. "I won't let you take him!" He shouted.

"What?" His father asked tensely.

"I won't! William can be good!" Mycroft understood that logically he couldn't promise that so he added, "Even if he can't I don't have to sleep that much. I can take turns with Mummy." William started to stir so Mycroft shielded his eyes with his shirt. William had let out a cry when his face was uncovered but settled when Mycroft covered him back up.

"Oh, Mykie." Mummy sighed. "Sherlock's not going anywhere. Sherry's just trying to pick fights with us."

Mycroft relaxed, Mummy only used their full names when she was mad at them. The pet names that usually annoyed him were reassuring.

"Be careful, son. Make sure he can breathe." Their father cautioned, folding the blanket over the railing of the cot.

Mummy decided that Mycroft was smothering his brother so she took the baby into her arms. He started wailing immediately.

Mycroft guessed that William didn't like the light so he picked up and threw the blanket. Unfortunately he wasn't very good at sports and blankets were notoriously hard to throw so it ended up smacking into his mother's face.

Mummy understood what he was trying to do and put the blanket over her shoulder like she did when William needed feeding. William fussed a little before quieting down.

"Wow." Father said. "You figured it out. Amazing!"

His father didn't praise him very often anymore. Mycroft enjoyed the admiration to a point but it became embarrassing rather quickly. Plus this time Mycroft felt hadn't earned it yet; he didn't actually know why William wasn't screaming.

After a few experiments over the next few days he decided it was overstimulation. William fell asleep fastest when it was dark, there was a heart beat or other soothing noise and there was a familiar scent to focus on. It took Mycroft quite a few tests to figure this out because sometimes William liked to be difficult and scream for food or attention instead of overstimulation. When he explained this to his parents they agreed but didn't congratulate him. Mycroft was used to Father not understanding when to actually praise his accomplishments and Mummy often tried when he was younger but it wasn't the same. Eventually she gave up.

It was two weeks before the police called to say Sherrinford was in their custody. Mycroft spent the night he came home under the blankets with Sherlock. They listened to recordings of the London Philharmonic that only muffled the words being shouted. It couldn't hide the shouting itself or the sounds of things breaking.

Sherrinford was kicked out of school and he lounged around the house until their father could get him into a different one.

Mycroft told his bother about how he figured out why William was crying.

"Glad you got the little brat to shut up." Sherrinford responded.

Mycroft huffed. Sherrinford usually complimented him whenever he figured something out using the scientific method. The elder brother had taught him it, after all. "He likes me the best. Even more than Mummy." Mycroft bragged, trying to get a positive response.

"I'm sure you'll make an excellent mum one day. Better than ours, anyway." Sherrinford mumbled the last part but Mycroft still heard.

"What's wrong with you?!" He snapped. His older brother was never his cold or mean to him.

Sherrinford sat up and glared at the baby hidden in Mycroft's arms. "It's not me! It's him. Apparently our parents don't have time to deal with me anymore so they're sending me away."

Mycroft frowned. "That can't be true."

"Oh, they told me. They're sending me to boarding school. You'll only see me at Christmas and during the summer. You're still a kid so you can't understand, but you wait. They'll fall head over heels for _Sherlock_..." Sherrinford said William's pet name like it was a curse. "...and they'll have less and less time for you. Eventually they'll send you away. They'll never think to get rid of him. He's just a baby."

"He won't be a baby forever." Mycroft argued.

"Maybe they'll keep you. You've always been well behaved, you get all the praise. You're the favourite." Then Sherrinford's mouth curved into an ugly smile. "For now. Just remember kid, I was the favourite once. Then you came."

Their mother entered on the last part. "Sherrinford! Don't say such things!" Mummy started to yell at the eldest.

Mycroft left, raised voices always upset William.

"You know what he said isn't true, right? We don't have favourites. We love each of you equally." Mummy told him after she finished scolding his brother.

"Of course, Mummy." He agreed to avoid an argument. But Mycroft knew that even though his parents might love them all equally, he was most certainly the favourite.

Mummy must have heard that he didn't believe her in his tone because she continued. "Well, you manage to behave. Your brother..." She sighed dramatically. "I don't know what to do with him sometimes."

It made sense to Mycroft then. Sherrinford couldn't stay out of trouble so they were sending him away. All Mycroft had to do was stay out of trouble.

William started fussing.

And keep William out of trouble. Mycroft mentally added.

* * *

A/N: Please note that when Sherlock was born the hospitals didn't require car-seats in order to release the baby (in America anyway; I couldn't find the exact laws for 1979-1981 in the UK). I would think the family might have an old one but with a seven year gap and their economic class it seems reasonable that they would just carry Sherlock to the nearest store to buy one. :P Also, they understand a lot more about colic now then they did in the late eighties when my sister had it so it was probably worse at the time. I can tell you from my foggy toddler memory that a colicky baby is torture and should be one of the levels of Hell. But, I digress... If you're curious about the medical stuff I have the links to most of my research.

Huge thanks to Jump dimension for betaing this chapter even though I was months overdue. u/6938550/ wander over there if you have a moment. :)


End file.
